Today Was a Good Day

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Joe Biden is the President of the United States.

Thank the gods

Four years ago on this very same day I was distraught. Somehow, and I will never ever understand how, Donald Trump won the electoral college and the presidency. He lost the popular vote, but we go by the the electoral college for some unknown reason to me, and that gave that con man the win. I knew it was going to be bad for four years. I knew things would get worse. I knew he wasn’t equipped for the job. I was not only distraught, I was terrified. I didn’t think it would get as bad as it did though. Racists came out of the bushes. Borders were put up. Kids were separated from their parents. Religion started to take over the government. The “president” said and did awful things daily. Throw in the pandemic, which he claimed would “go away in two weeks”, America was in a pretty terrible place.

November of 2020, or more likely October, I decided I was going to get involved, and do what I could to get Biden and Harris elected. I phone banked, sent emails, talked to people and let it be known that we needed a change. People went out, and mailed in, votes in enormous, never before seen quantities. When the race was called on November 7th, with Biden/Harris declared the winners, they had well over 78 million votes. When it was all said and done, after numerous recounts and failed objections from Trumpublicans, Biden/Harris had 81 million plus votes. Even after those terrorists tried to delay certification on January 6th, the senate and house reconvened and certified the win. This was the moment when all the objections and court cases and all other nonsense went out the door for me. There were just two more weeks until we would finally be free from the failed con man, and his cronies.

I woke up excited this morning. I had a sense of relief. My mom said she woke up to watch Trump leave to make sure he was gone. I woke up pumped to hear Biden and Harris speak. This was the first day in four years where I actually breathed a humongous sigh of relief. I went to my folks house to watch this historic day, and I am forever grateful that I did. I got to experience this momentous, breath of fresh air with them, and it was great. It was nice to hear adults speaking. I teared up when Associate Justice Sonia Sotamayor swore in Kamala Harris. That was a historic moment for a billion different reasons. We had a Latina Supreme Court judge swearing in an African American and Asian female as the VP. It was incredible. And Harris’ speech was something to behold. Again, it was an adult saying adult things, and promising to uphold her duties as VP, and I think she will do an excellent job. Then we got to hear Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez sing. They were spectacular.

Then Biden was sworn in.

This, right here, when the power officially was handed over, was the moment where I just felt this overwhelming sense of joy and comfort and normalcy. Sure, Biden may have not been my first choice as a Democrat, but I’ve gained an enormous amount of respect for him over the past six months. He is my guy and Harris is just amazing in every possible way. I know they have a hard road to hoe ahead of them. There is a lot they have to clean up. They need to help get the vaccine out to everyone. They have to reclaim America’s clout with other countries. Biden has to get his people approved for his cabinet. There’s a lot. But you know what, I have faith they will because they aren’t con men, snakes or salesmen. They know the job ahead of them, and I have full faith they will get a lot done. It also helps that the Democrats are pretty much in full control of the Senate and House.

I have waited four long years to have this feeling, a lot of us have in fact. But it’s a great thing to once again have some semblance of people more than qualified to have the jobs they now have, or will have very soon. I’m not distraught today, I’m quite happy. Now it’s time to get to work, which I’m sure Biden and Harris are already doing. Everyone take a deep breath, the adults are in charge once again.
Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

Accepting, and Defending, President Trump's Lies is unAmerican

My America is great when we embrace the truth

It is mere days into the Presidency of Donald Trump, and history has already been made. The good kind of history is not being made. It is more of a predictable terrible history coming from the new White House. The 45th President has already taken time off from work, after he constantly complained about President Obama leaving work for any time off. He has not moved on any meaningful legislation, after he promised to get to work on day one. He has not released his tax returns, even though he promised to release them once in office. But the most disturbing thing coming out of the new Trump White House is the need for the President, and his supporters, to lie about anything they feel like is not in their favor.

The fact is that not as many people attended the inauguration of Donald Trump as those that attended the inauguration of Barack Obama. That is not in dispute. We can speculate on why President Obama was a bigger draw than President Trump. It could be that Barack Obama won the popular vote by a very large margin, and Donald Trump lost the popular vote by a huge number. It could be that the majority of the country was excited about the hope, and positivity, that surrounded the ascension of Obama. Trump’s campaign was filled with racism, misogyny and constant whining from the candidate. We know that the weather was not a factor. President Trump may have had a warm rainy day, but that is child’s play compared to the historically cold temperatures in Washington DC for President Obama’s inauguration. No matter what we speculate, the fact is that Donald Trump had a whole lot less people watching his inauguration than those that experienced President Obama’s swearing in.

Yet our new President decided to throw a temper tantrum at the CIA and claim that the press is lying about his poor showing. The so-called leader of the free world is so thin skinned that he has to show his smallness to the entire world while he addresses the nation’s intelligence community. He thinks his delusions are worthy of the CIA, the American people, and the world at large. This all happened in the first hours of the Trump Presidency.

Just like the 2016 campaign, Trump’s surrogates came out and defended their boss. Remember these people are now employed by the American people to act in the best interest of all Americans. New Press Secretary Sean Spicer used his very first official press conference to mimic his boss and complain about the media. Spicer went even further and flat out lied when he claimed that the inauguration was the most watched event of its kind ever. The spokesperson for the President was not called out for his obvious lying because he refused to take any questions. Quite the man of the people.

But Spicer was not going to be outdone with his blatant lies. White House adviser Kellyanne Conway was on “Meet the Press” and explained that the President and the Press Secretary were using alternative facts when talking about the inauguration. Host Chuck Todd was rightfully flummoxed by the idea of alternative facts. Conway though was resolute, and continued to whine about the media. At one point she even insinuated that President Trump would start to cut access off to the media that does not accept the administrations alternative facts. Conway had no shame, like Spicer and the President, in protecting an obvious lie.

The press, and the public on the internet, have laughed at President Trump and his team for their need to lie about the inauguration. This is not funny. These people occupy a White House that many Americans look at as a castle for the king of America. The Trump administration could act without the consent of Congress and many Americans would not blink an eye. Hacks like Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will use the weak will of President Trump to pass legislation that will hurt most of America. Trump’s lies were not taken seriously during the campaign, they sure as hell need to be taken seriously now that he is President of the United States.

The thing that should scare every single citizen of the United States is that the President of the United States is so weak that the fact of a small crowd at his inauguration has become the most important issue for his young term. The majority of Americans are not stupid, we all saw the pictures. It was a good, and cathartic, laugh to see the ratings starved Trump not pull the big numbers. But the laughter stopped when the President of the United States lied to us, and his staff protected his lie instead of respecting the citizens of the country they serve. The President’s ego is more important than having a leader who respects the intelligence of all Americans. Having a self-serving narcissist as leader of a nation has never ended well for anyone.

President Donald Trump took an oath to serve the American people. He works for us. When he is blatantly lying to protect his own feelings, he is not serving the citizens of the United States. In the first days of his Presidency, Donald Trump has already shown himself to be unfit for the office he was elected to with a minority of the votes. The people tasked with working in the Trump White House also have an oath to the American people. When they perpetuate the President’s lies, they too are acting against the citizens of the United States. The Americans who want to protect Trump’s lies are also acting in an unconstitutional way. Protecting lies will only damage the nation.

Wanting to protect an obvious lie does not make America great, it makes it much worse. We can only hope that the terrible, dangerous, and unpatriotic actions of the President and his staff will wake up the American people. If a low rating on inauguration is worth the fight, what more important actions will the President lie about? What if it is something serious? Do not let the Trump’s lies destroy America. Be patriots.

RD

RD is the Head Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast? Help us keep track of, and call out, the lies of President Trump. Write for us.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing 

The Case for Hillary Clinton

The combo for the case was in one of the 3000 emails

In case you live under a rock and still find time to read SeedSing.com, there is a pretty contentious race going on for the Presidency of the United States. New York businessman Donald Trump is running against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. There are a few other people on the ballot, but they have no chance whatsoever, so we will not name them here.

Are you one of those undecided voters? Really? What is wrong with you? Well we are going to give the undecided, and the determinedly decided, voters a look at why each candidate deserves your vote for President of the United States. Enjoy, and make damn sure you vote on or before (if allowed in your state) November 8th. 

Why Hillary Clinton should be President of the United States

Time for some real talk.

Hillary Clinton will walk into the election on November 8th with almost enough electoral votes to win the Presidency. If you take, Ohio, Iowa, and Florida, all states won by Obama in 2012, and give those votes to Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton will still have over the needed 270 electoral votes. This huge advantage is not because Clinton is a transcendent candidate, it is because the Democratic Party nominee will always have this advantage until the GOP can figure out how to grow voters. Complaining about immigration, and offering no credible solutions. Voting constantly to defund Obamacare, and offering no real alternative. Claiming white christian men are the real victims, while ignoring every other demographic group. These issues are keeping the national Republican Party isolated from the majority of Americans. How and why the GOP can win everything except the Presidency has been a mystery to many. We have discussed how the GOP has been so successful at the local level, and so very bad in Presidential elections. While the Republican Party rests on the success of their small ball approach to elections, and not evolve to bring in new voters, the Democratic Party will continue to win ever single Presidential election. Most of these victories will be by a wide margin.

Being gifted this Electoral College advantage is why Hillary Clinton will be elected President of the United States, but it is not why you should vote for her. The contrast between Clinton's centrism, and Trump's populism is almost nonexistent. There are many issues where the candidates are on the same page. They will both work with a pro business Congress to bail out Wall Street when there is another economic downturn. Both candidates will acquiesce to any recommendations the Pentagon makes in concern to our continued military operations in the Middle East. Like every recent Presidential campaign that preceded them, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have claimed to be the change candidate, but when it comes to the big issues they will not have the Constitutional powers to make the broad sweeping changes promised on the campaign trail. The economy, gun rights, foreign policy, it will all stay the same under a President Clinton or President Trump. Sorry, but those are the facts.

Where Hillary Clinton does separate herself from Donald Trump is in the areas where the Republican Party is falling behind on the national stage. The GOP, led by Trump, has taken a very hard stance on immigration. Talk of loyalty tests, banning entire groups from entering the country, and the constant defense of racist leaders, and their racist ideas, has hamstrung the Republican party with many minority groups. Immigrant groups like Latinos, and Muslims, are growing, while the old middle class white man as a voting group is shrinking. While Fox News, and other thought leaders of the Republican Party, continue to demonize these growing groups, the GOP will continue to lose voters. Gaining these groups is creating a permanent fire wall of supporters the Democratic Party can count on for generations. If these groups turn out, there is no way the Democratic candidate can ever lose the Presidency. The Clinton campaign is counting on these voters to put them over the top.

Many people wonder why the majority of minority groups blindly support the Democratic Party. Hillary Clinton, along with majority of the Democratic Party, has not been demonizing Muslim or Latino immigrants . Along with African Americans, the immigrant community sees the Democratic Party as their only choice in a national election. Clinton has highlighted the struggle of the people who come to America for a better opportunity. She has put on display the heroism of immigrants who have given it all to defend America. The GOP has tried to present a case to American minority groups that the Democratic Party does nothing to help the true struggles immigrants face, but it sounds hollow when in the same day Donald Trump is turning Muslims, African Americans, and Latinos into people all Americans should fear. By acting gracious, and not suspicious, the Clinton campaign is adding voters with almost all minority groups in the United States. Alienating these voters is killing any future the Republican party hopes to have at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

The Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare if your nasty, is another area where Clinton is focusing on solving a problem and Donald Trump is only concerned with creating division. The Affordable Care Act is not a very good piece of legislation, but it has areas that almost everyone agrees on. People should not be denied healthcare because of a preexisting condition. No matter of income level, every American deserves adequate access to good health. The mythical GOP plan that has been presented as an Obamacare replacement has included both of these provisions at one time or another. Hillary Clinton has been involved in reforming America's healthcare system for over twenty years. She wants to create a solution, not have endless defunding show votes that accomplish nothing. Donald Trump, and the Republican Party, continues to treat Americans health as a commodity where there is money to be made. Hillary Clinton may not have evolved to the point where access to good health should be equal, but she has devoted a large part of her life in trying to gain access to good healthcare for all. Her leadership on this vital issue is a comfort to a nervous electorate.

Donald Trump likes to criticism Hillary Clinton for being in politics for so long, and not accomplishing anything. If Mr. Trump, and the Republican Party, had read the United States Constitution, they would understand that a former private attorney, First Lady, US Senator, and Secretary of State does not have the unilateral power they all believe she did possess. If one was to have an unbiased look at Clinton's actual record of accomplishment, they would come away impressed. Clinton has made her mark on both US domestic and foreign policy. People may not agree with everything she has accomplished, but the record is long, and even Republicans will see some good. Trump likes to say she created ISIS, any thinking person can see the lie in that statement. The Republican Party has tried, and tried, and tried to trip up Secretary Clinton on Benghazi. They have failed and embarrassed themselves. Hillary Clinton's long political career has not only created an unparalleled list of accomplishment, but it also created one of the craftiest political fighters in US history.

This is usually the point where the Trump supporters will point to the corruption that has followed Hillary and Bill Clinton their entire political careers. There have been a lot of news stories, hit pieces, and congressional investigations, yet Hillary Clinton has never been indicted or charged with any crime. None whatsoever. While the GOP has gone after Hillary Clinton, she has swatted every single attack down. The email scandal has been going on since before Clinton announced her intention to run for President, yet their is still no smoking gun. Foreign entities have tried to derail Clinton's campaign, they have all failed. Former President Bush, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, and many other administration officials, kept government information on private email servers and deleted millions of communications when investigators came knocking. Surprisingly there have not been endless investigations by the the Republicans in Congress who claim they are just trying to protect Americans. While the Bush administration has gotten away with deleting millions of emails concerning government business, Hillary Clinton has constantly been hounded about 30,000 communications that no one can find. Most Americans see the double standard, and Donald Trump is losing the argument.

Hillary Clinton has spent most of her adult life working in the Washington DC machine and slowly climbing her way to the top. On the campaign trail people like to see an outsider running for President, but we have always preferred the comfort of knowing that our President knows Washington DC. Hillary Clinton definitely knows DC. Voting for Hillary Clinton is like walking through a haunted house attraction. How everything works is hidden from your view. The secrets of the house are closely guarded. You have an idea what to expect, but there will be a few scares. In the end you will be right back where you started. Nothing has really changed. On the ride home you are left wondering if it was all worth it. 

Go out and vote.

RD

RD Kulik is the Head Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is not embarrassed about writing what is not in his heart. Why does he have no shame? Because journalism has no shame. Be shameless and write for SeedSing

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

The Case for Donald Trump

The case is filled with lead and swings in the general direction of the candidate.

In case you live under a rock and still find time to read SeedSing.com, there is a pretty contentious race going on for the Presidency of the United States. New York businessman Donald Trump is running against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. There are a few other people on the ballot, but they have no chance whatsoever, so we will not name them here.

Are you one of those undecided voters? Really? What is wrong with you? Well we are going to give the undecided, and the determinedly decided, voters a look at why each candidate deserves your vote for President of the United States. Enjoy, and make damn sure you vote on or before (if allowed in your state) November 8th. 

Why Donald Trump should be President of the United States

With the current state of the national political climate, any Democratic candidate has a huge electoral advantage over their Republican counterpart. It is the facts of math. Mitt Romney in 2012 and John McCain in 2008 were blown out in the electoral college vote because of the Democratic Party's advantage. In order to win the election, Donald Trump will have to get a state, or two, who have leaned towards the Democratic candidate for nearly a decade. Trump has to gain votes that Romney and McCain could not. Being so unpopular, how does Trump gain these voters?

The fact is that the only way Donald Trump will win the US Presidency is if enough people vote for him because he is not Hillary Clinton. To this vital group of people, who can swing the entire election, the case for Donald Trump is that he is not Hillary Clinton. That is it, these people want to find a way to keep Clinton out of office.  The anybody but Hillary crowd need to break for Trump. If that happens, than the Republican nominee may have gained the voters the GOP have been searching for over the last two elections.

Why does Donald Trump deserve the lion's share of the never Hillary voters? To begin with, Trump is definitely not like Hillary Clinton. Donald Trump is not like any politician in modern memory. The election of Donald J Trump to the Presidency of the United States would be shocking. For years, many people have run for elected office claiming to be outsiders. Trump is genuinely an outsider. He has ran as a third party candidate. He has been registered as a Democrat longer than he has been a Republican. The talk of being an outsider is never right, except when it is Donald Trump doing the talking. For people saying that the problem with politics is politicians, Trump is the messiah they have been waiting for.

Donald Trump has also put a great amount of effort into running for President. While most of the Republican field took the electorate for granted, Trump was always on tv, and at rallies, making his case. When the fundraising has been a little light, Trump has put his own money up. Hillary Clinton has run a very low key, and low energy, campaign, while Trump is a force that never stops. His constant presence has had many consequences, but no one can deny his effort. Being a figure who has taken advantage of other people's hard work, it is shocking how much energy Trump has put into his 18 month run for the President. Donald Trump may be accused of a lot of bad stuff, but being a lazy candidate should not be one of those accusations.

If Donald Trump is elected to the Presidency of the United States, it will end the Clinton Dynasty. The Democratic Party has been crippled at every level because of the hording of resources and manpower done by the Hillary Clinton campaign (just take a look at the Ohio Problem). The constant defense of the sins of Bill Clinton has caused the Democratic Party to lose the moral high ground. Any Trump accusation is turned around to make a similar, if not worse, accusation against former President Clinton. True or not, there is an unfortunate history of Bill Clinton and infidelity, and the left wing never condemns the former President. The mainstream media, along with the entire Republican Party, has spent decades litigating Bill and Hillary Clinton. Many people are tired of the overzealous investigations, and the same amount of people are tired of the general corruption that follows the Clintons. Make no mistake, there are plenty of scandals surrounding Donald Trump, but they are new scandals. The nation does not have the same kind of fatigue concerning the Trump scandals. There will be plenty of media, and maybe even a few congressional, investigations into a possible President Donald Trump. That does not matter. What is important to the nation's psyche is that we are finally investigation someone not named Clinton.

There is also no way of knowing what a Donald Trump Presidency would look like. I know many people find that frightening, but to others it will be an exciting breath of fresh air. We know what we get from a Hillary Clinton Presidency. She will help Wall Street, not fix Obamacare, continue the terrible foreign policy Bush II started in the Middle East, protect her big campaign supporters at the expense of everyone else. Hillary Clinton will act like every President before her because that is what the system rewards. Trump is an unknown. He says a lot of things like building the wall, and tearing up trade and defense treaties, but he does not have the unilateral power to do these things. Congress will definitely not follow the currently laid out Trump plan. How will President Trump react to this? The last time there was such an unknown, and feared, person in the Oval Office his name was Teddy Roosevelt. History has judged President Roosevelt quite well. Could Trump take his unknown qualities and change America for the better? 

Do you want an unknown quantity, who is very high energy, and will finally kick the Clinton machine to the curb, then Donald J Trump is your man. His language may be rough, his past is filled with landmines, and his business acumen is questionable, but he is definitely not a part of the same DC machine that has given us our current broken government. Voting for Donald Trump is like diving into the old quarry late at night. You have no idea how far down it is, how deep the water is, and if you will actually survive, but it sure gets the heart racing. It is up to America to decide if we want to make that jump. The only thing we risk is death, paralysis, or one hell of thrill. Leap at your own risk.

RD

RD Kulik is the Head Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is not embarressed about writing what is not in his heart. Why does he have no shame? Because journalism has no shame. Be shameless and write for SeedSing

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are not Equally Terrible

Politics is all about bad math

Have you been checking out your Facebook feed lately? There is a lot of insightful political talk going on? Too many people use their social networks not to try and gain support for their given political candidate, but they want to trash the other side. With every new hiccup coming from their chosen political campaign, people rush to the internet and let the world know that the other side is filled with brain eating monsters. This behavior is not just living in the world of amateur want to be political minds of social media, the national press engages in the same tactics. If one candidate does something terrible, the press balances it with an attack on the other candidate. Even worse, the opinion shows go all in and defend their chosen candidate, no matter what their talking heads have been preaching for years. It does not matter what a candidate does, it only matters that the other one is equally as bad. Democracy in action.

The latest round of memes making there way around the world wide web concerns the fact that no one likes the binary choice of Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican nominee Donald Trump. Yes there are other candidates, but let's be grownups and understand that only Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have a real, not imaginary, chance of winning the presidency. The political discourse has devolved into the engaged internet political pundits wanting a do over. They do not like Trump, and they really do not like Clinton. The latest infection of not so clever memes has come up after the Trump "Grab them by the pussy" tapes and all the new allegations of sexual abuse being levied towards the Republican nominee. Fox News has predictably used their most un-American pundits, people like Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, the Fox and Friends jamokes, to go all out and attack the alleged history of corruption and sexual assault from Bill and Hillary Clinton. The supposed news anchors of Fox News just try to set up an equivalency of terribleness between Hillary and Donald. If Trump says / does something bad, the Clinton campaign has also done something not similar but still really bad. Other media outlets like the network news, Sunday political shows, and cable follow the Fox News ratings grab formula and report on the same equivalency of terribleness. The message is clear, if Donald Trump is bad, Hillary Clinton must be at least as terrible.

Hillary Clinton has a long, rocky, history in the public arena. There are many scandals she is either directly, or indirectly, been a part of for nearly thirty years. Things like Bill Clinton's history of sexual indiscretions, Whitewater, the private email server used during Hillary's tenure as Secretary of State, have been gleefully investigated again and again by Republicans in congress. These defenders of fiscal restraint have no problem using millions of taxpayers dollars to litigate the same issue again and again. Their lack of concern for saving the taxpayers is equal only to their abuse of power in going after the Clintons. We can thank the GOP for thirty years of pointless, and wasteful, investigations that have produced nothing but failure. Hillary's scandals have been kept alive due to Republican impotence.

Then we have the crackpot conspiracy theories that the GOP refuses to give up on. Since the Clinton's famous 60 minutes interview that aired immediately after the 1992 Super Bowl, Republican opinion leaders (i.e. Rush Limbaugh) have been going after Hillary Clinton about every trivial thing. She is ugly, she is a bitch, she is a lesbian, she is a woman who does not respect her place in society, all of these hateful, and non-important, character traits have been used against Hillary by the fringes and mainstream media. The are still being used today. Embarrassingly, the details surrounding the suicide of Hillary's former law partner Vince Foster are still being discussed all over the internet. The fact that the Clinton's took furniture and other items from the White House after President Bill Clinton's Presidency is still treated like one of the worst things any former first family has ever done. Most people still do not the truth about what happened. Many of the self righteous media types slamming the Clinton's conveniently forget about all the freebies that Ronald and Nancy Reagan received while at the White House. What the Clinton's did was wrong, just as wrong as what the Reagan's did. In the petty act of using the White House as a gift giving apparatus, the Clinton's and Reagan's are equally terrible.

This leads us to Donald Trump. With all the Clinton problems, the public wants to equate the Trump problems as part of the same culture. Just recently Donald Trump was hit with the damning off record tape of he and Billy Bush casually talking about sexual assault. That was excused as boy's locker room talk. Since then, and for decades before, women have come out to accuse Trump of sexual assault. This is excused as being no worse than what was alleged about Bill Clinton. Trump has used a tax code that favors the rich to fail upwards whenever another one of business ventures fails. This is excused by saying that Trump is a great business man. Trump's long, proven, history of infidelity and ugly divorces has been part of the Donald's story since his separation from first wife Ivana Trump. This is excused by his acolytes by saying it is all ok because Donald Trump is now a good christian man and should be forgiven. Trump uses cheap, unregulated, overseas labor for many of his projects, and regularly does not pay his contracts to american workers. This is excused again by saying that Trump is a smart business man. There is also the racism, hate, and hints of wanting violence on display in Donald Trump's rallies. This is excused by saying Trump is just speaking for a "silent" majority who have no voice. Cracked.com has even more, true and proven, terrible things that Donald Trump has done. Donald Trump is responsible for things we would not let a candidate for school board to get away with, much less a major party candidate for President.

With the two candidates history, how in the world can one say that Clinton and Trump are equally terrible? What Hillary Clinton has been accused of, and litigated by the court of public opinion, is what we can connect to any politician who is been in power for a long time. That does not make it right, but that is the current reality of American politics. We treat these elected officials like royalty, so they act like royalty. Did Hillary Clinton knowingly hide things from the American people? Probably. Has she used public service to increase her families wealth? Definitely. Does she say one thing to her donors in private and something contradictory to the voters. Absolutely, that is how are political system works today.

Do you know who else has done what Hillary Clinton does? Every single person elected to public office. Tea party heroes like Jim Jordan still forces  the government to buy tanks the US Army says are a waste of taxpayer money. He does it because of powerful political donors who make the tanks. President George W Bush and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales deliberately did not turn over millions of emails subpoenaed by the US Congress  because the emails were on a private server run by the RNC. The Chief of Staff to sitting Vice President Dick Cheney was convicted of outing a CIA agent because the agent's husband was a political enemy. Scooter Libby made America weaker and spent time in prison. President George W Bush pardoned Libby as a political favor. Did the press feel the need to balance Hillary Clinton's history with these cases of political greed and pettiness?

Donald Trump's terrible ideas, and business struggles, are not part of a broken political culture. His terribleness is born in the fact that Donald Trump only cares about his own personal well being. There is nothing in his history that shows a man who is trying to help anyone out. He inherited a fortune and used an economic system built to protect the wealthy to protect his failures. He used his money to acquire, and eventually discard, women. He used his celebrity to take what he wants, forgetting that there are people he is actively hurting. Trump does not care about any of this, and many people cheer him on for this. Donald Trump is not trying to appease a political constituency. He is not trying to push a public agenda. Donald Trump is actively trying to keep a world alive where Donald Trump is the most important person. Trump is correct when he says that he is not a politician. Politicians have to care about others in order to win elected office. Trump does not cater to anyone, unless that person is Donald Trump.

That is what makes Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump different. Clinton has been trying to serve other people, and in the process has been part of a broken and corrupt political system. Hillary Clinton is no different than any other politician in the swamp of Washington D.C.. Trump is corrupt due to his own narcissism. He has no will to help anyone who is not Donald Trump. The system did not make Trump bad, he has been exhibiting this terrible behavior as long as the press has been covering him.

Many people use Clinton's scandals to dismiss her because she is the Democratic Party nominee. Voters who identify as Republicans do not want the Democrat to win, so her scandals are brought to the forefront like any other opposition candidate's scandals would be. You do not want the Democrat to win, then you need justification on why they are unworthy. The apprehension to Donald Trump has little to do with the fact of him being the Republican nominee. His terribleness is wholly his own and not part of a larger political culture. His scandals are not part of a D.C. culture. Donald Trump has personally created his own political struggles through his greed and immorality. Clinton is a politician, Trump is dangerously selfish. That is not different sides of the same terrible coins.

Stop with the equivalence of terribleness between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. They may both have things we do not like, but it is not even close to equal. If you do not like Hillary Clinton, don't vote for her. What you can not do is claim that both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are equally flawed. Clinton is part of a system that has enlarged elected officials for a very long time. The system needs to be reformed. Donald Trump is part of a system that is anti-american and anti-progress. The system that helps Donald Trump to succeed needs to be discarded. There is no equivalence.

RD 

RD Kulik is the Head Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Listen to RD and Ty discuss the history of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton on the newest X Millennial Man Podcast. What do you think of the current state of American politics? Tell us all about it

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

The Day After: Republican National Convention Edition

Time to move this mess to Philadelphia

It is now official. Donald J. Trump is the official Republican Party nominee to be President of the United States. I never thought this would happen. Even today I am filled with confusion and apprehension. The ascension of the New York businessman, and reality television star, to being one of two assumed choices for President is a story for the history books. For four days in Cleveland Ohio, the country got to witness what the Trump Republican Party was all about. Last night, for over an hour, candidate Trump had the attention of the nation all to himself. No more debates with ten or more people. No more primaries or states needing to hold a caucus. No more wrong media analysis. The GOP of 2016 has been solidified, and now onward goes the campaign for victory on November 8th.

The 2016 Republican Party National Convention was feared by many, and hoped by some, to be one of chaos and fighting. There was an expectation of political fisticuffs in the convention hall, and real violence from protesters who had descended on Cleveland. The Never Trump movement had one more chance to derail the nomination. Stories of the 1976 Republican Convention, and the Ronald Reagan supporters trying to block Gerald Ford's nomination by changing the rules at the last minute, were being linked to what may go on in Cleveland. The Cleveland police were requesting help from other cities. Public officials wanted to suspend the right to open carry firearms. The nominee himself was promising an exciting and non-traditional list of speakers. I for one was not looking forward to the violence and hate, but was intrigued by what a showman like Donald Trump could pull off. The 2016 RNC was going to be unlike anything we have ever seen in American politics.

The reality is that the 2016 Republican National Convention was a bit of a letdown. Thankfully we did not have any horrible violence in the streets of Cleveland. The protests were typical for any political event. Flag burning, yelling, and being drunk while political, typical protester stuff. Inside the convention halls, nothing much happened. The Never Trumpers tried, and failed. They failed in a spectacularly quick manner. The speakers were nothing to be that excited about. Typical Fox News republicans like Rudy Giuliani, Newt Gingrich, and Chris Christie did the same tired act they have been doing for years. An endless parade of actors and sports figures most of us have forgotten about would take the stage and yell about how horrible President Obama and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton are as Americans. Vice Presidential nominee Mike Pence put a lot of America to sleep. Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell made their expected speeches, and both men were not welcomed with open arms. The Trump children were the only speakers that garnered any bipartisan praise. Possible First Lady Melania Trump stirred up some non-news by possibly plagiarizing a 2008 Michelle Obama speech. It was a dumb story kept alive by an underwhelming convention. 

Then there is Texas Senator Ted Cruz. The 2016 Presidential Primary contest was one of the most personal, and drawn out, contests in American history. Senator Cruz and Mr. Trump were both trying to run as outsiders, and Mr. Trump came out as the eventual winner. To the surprise of no one, Trump used personal insults and general bullying to gain voters. Florida Senator Marco Rubio tried to use Trump's tactics against the New York blowhard. Rubio was out of the race a few weeks later. Senator Cruz and his family were prime targets for Trump. It was ugly. By giving Senator Cruz a Wednesday speaker slot at the convention, many Republicans thought the Texas Senator would move past the primary, and endorse Trump to show party unity.

That did not happen. Senator Cruz instead used his time to take a passive aggressive swipe at his own party's Presidential nominee. Why show up and do this? Marco Rubio and John Kasich, who both have ambitions in four years, were smart enough to stay away and not take a chance at ending their national aspirations. The only reason I can see Ted Cruz going this route is that the man must be crazy. He has an irrational want to be the GOP's next Ronald Reagan, and maybe his speech was supposed to start an inter party revolution like Reagan's 1976 convention speech. The thing that the Texas Senator seems to forget is that the Gipper did not try to undermine the nominee, Reagan endorsed Ford and worked to try and get the incumbent President reelected in 1976. Cruz has tried to undermine his party and has used shady tactics in every campaign the man has ever run in. He attacks Republican and Democrats alike. The only reason Cruz could last as long as he did in the 2016 primaries is by being shady and because the Republican party on the national level is a mess. By allowing so many people to run in the primaries, Reince Preibus doomed any hope of a moderate Republican from emerging. Ted Cruz, and Donald Trump, should have been done in January, but incompetence at the RNC allowed their fringe campaigns to survive. By not supporting Trump, Senator Cruz has given up any chance of ever being the Republican Party's Presidential nominee. He is not a smart man who has shown everyone that the only thing that matters to Ted Cruz is Ted Cruz's own political ambition. The end of Senator Cruz's Presidential dreams is one good thing to come out of the Republican National Convention.

Finally, late last night, Donald Trump ended his speech and officially became the flag bearer for all Republicans this November. I for one was really looking forward to seeing the Trump acceptance speech It was going to be unlike any political speech in my lifetime. Unfortunately is more of the same from Trump, just louder and longer. I went to bed feeling a bit let down. It was boringly typical Donald Trump. America is a hellhole of crime. Illegal immigration, pointless war, and free trade have led us down a dark path. Hillary Clinton is incompetent, a crook, and dangerous to all Americans. President Obama has failed for almost eight years. The only thing that can save Lady Liberty is the awesomeness of Donald Trump. There was no actual solutions to these problems, just the awesomeness of Donald Trump is the only cure needed. Oh, and for the first time ever a Republican Presidential nominee said we should be nice to the LGBTQ community, and he was applauded. That was weird.

The balloons dropped, confetti fell, and my brain is still trying to accept that Donald J. Trump is on the ballot as the Republican candidate for President of the United States. The entire Republican National Convention felt like a big letdown. No grand solutions, only problems. The action on the convention floor did not seem to be well planned. Most of the speakers did not embrace their nominee. Many people gave rambling, or over the top, speeches that only incited the fringe of the right wing. Conspiracy theories were being given more time than actually trying to court new voters. From my perspective it seems like the RNC has given up on the Presidential race and is going to rely on Democratic Party incompetence in the down ticket races so the GOP can hold onto everything below the executive office. That is probably the party's best path forward. Donald Trump's new Republican Party had its star shine bright, and dim with the four days in Cleveland. 

RD 

RD Kulik is the Head Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. We are looking for people to talk about the 2016 election from their local point of view. Have something to say? Come write for SeedSing.

The Day(s) After: Super Saturday and Tuesday 2 Edition

The Saturdays and Tuesdays are about to get a lot more Super

The Saturdays and Tuesdays are about to get a lot more Super

Looking at the results of Super Saturday and Super Tuesday 2 one can see that the Republican and Democratic Primary season is far from over. Both political parties are facing scenarios not thought of one year ago. Hillary Clinton's clear path is becoming more and more clouded. The rise, and inability to stop, Donald Trump is  becoming more and more troublesome to the Republican establishment and the national media. The 2016 primary season is making a fool out of a lot of the self identified experts. Maybe the people are really taking the power back.

On Saturday Texsas Senator Ted Cruz took his turn as the latest Republican establishment hope to take down Donald Trump. With a commanding win in Kansas and a tight upset in Maine, Cruz won the most overall delegates on the first Super Saturday. Donald Trump scored a few more small victories in Kentucky and Louisiana to pad his delegate totals, but Cruz closed the gap on the New York businessman's lead. Once the votes were tallied on Super Tuesday 2, Trump put a bit more distance between himself and Cruz with wins in Hawaii, Michigan, and Mississippi. Cruz eked out a win in Idaho and held second place in the other contests to stay in the primary race. Florida Senator Marco Rubio again underachieved on Saturday and Tuesday, winning zero delegates yesterday. All of the love and hope the Republican establishment and national media had for Rubio is evaporating quickly. Ohio Governor John Kasich finished where he normally does, far behind the leaders. With one week to go before the big winner take all prizes of Florida and Ohio, Ted Cruz is the only hope the Republican party has in derailing Trump's hold on the party's nomination for President of the United States.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton continued to separate herself from Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders for the Democratic nomination with the help of a few southern states and super delegates. Blow out wins in Mississippi and Louisiana added to Clinton's lead, while Sanders closed gap with wins in Kansas, Nebraska, Maine, and surprisingly Michigan. When the delegates are added from Super Saturday and Tuesday 2, Clinton and Sanders won almost the same amount. Where Secretary Clinton is separating herself from the Green Mountain State Senator is in the super delegates. These Democratic party officials do not need to follow the will of the people, and can vote for whomever they please. Clinton has spent years cultivating this valuable resource, and no matter how many close races Senator Sanders wins, she will still have the numbers advantage because of the super delegates. In order for Bernie Sanders to capture the Democratic nomination, he needs to win some of the big primary prizes, such as Ohio and Florida, and convince the super delegates to support his candidacy at the Democratic National Convention. That seems unlikely. 

Six months ago no one thought that Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Bernie Sanders would still be in this race. Cruz has received no endorsements from any of his Senate colleagues, and is generally disliked by the Republican establishment. Every week Donald Trump seems to do something that would end the political career of any other person. Bernie Sanders is constantly smeared by the national media as some sort of socialist boogeyman. Not one of these three candidates has the support of anyone of influence in the Republican and Democratic parties. How is it that we are approaching mid March, and all three men are still able to win their respective party's nomination? How did everyone get this primary season so wrong?

In the case of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, the Republican party has been grooming their voters to hate governance. The rise of the tea party created a culture of obstructing anything that President Obama and the Democratic Party wanted to get done. There was absolutely no support for the smallest bits of bipartisanship. Then Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said in 2010 that his number one job was to make Barrack Obama a one term president. He failed. While the Democratic Party failed at supporting down ticket candidates, a new breed of obstructionist Republicans started to take office. The Glenn Becks and Fox News personalities celebrated this culture of discord. Any one who compromised was severely punished. John Boehner, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, was the highest profile casualty of the new Republican Party. Boehner's failure to lead his own party was embraced by many Republicans. Ted Cruz was celebrated by the right wing media for attempting to stop any kind of legislation that required compromise. Donald Trump just yells about how other people are losers. The Republican Party embraced these tactics, and now they want to deny their champions. The voters were trained to want the bombast of Trump, the inflexibility of Cruz. The Republican voters want demagogues, not leaders. The party created this want.

The lingering campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders represents how much the Democratic Party has wasted the potential of the millennial vote. The Clinton campaign was embarrassed by the upstart Obama in 2008, and they did everything in their power to not make the same mistake again. The Democratic National Committee purposely limited the number of debates early on to help the former Secretary of State. The Clinton campaign has been raising money for years, to the detriment of many lower profile candidates. Any other Democrat who showed an interest in running for President was quickly met with scorn from the national party. Hillary Clinton's coronation as the Democratic nominee for President was one of the most undemocratic processes in modern political history. Senator Sanders, who is not even identified as a Democrat in the U.S. Senate, was so far outside of the established party that no one took his candidacy serious. The voters who identify as Democrats, but have felt betrayed by the party, flocked to Sanders campaign. The Clinton campaign has once again underestimated the voices of the disaffected Democrats, and it is costing them votes. Many thought Sanders could only win a few small liberal New England states, and now his campaign has claimed victory in Michigan. Without the advantage of super delegates, Sanders and Clinton would be neck and neck. The mistakes of 2008 seem to be coming back to haunt Hillary Clinton. The longer Bernie Sanders stays in this race, Hillary Clinton will have more pressure to talk about issues important to the millennial vote. If she refuses to acknowledge their ideas, 2016 is going to be a reminder of 2008.

The 2016 primary season has been unpredictable for both the Republican and Democratic party. Next week Florida and Ohio may bring more clarity on who will actually be on the ballot for President in November. Can the Republicans stop Trump? It looks unlikely. Is Ted Cruz the true choice of the Republican establishment? Probably not. Will John Kasich and Marco Rubio stop wasting peoples time? We can only hope.  Will Bernie Sanders be able to ride the potential of the millennial vote to the Democratic party nomination for President of the United States? Who the heck knows? The unpredictability makes this election one for the history books. 

RD

RD Kulik is the head editor for SeedSing. He is willing to admit when he is wrong, and he has been so wrong about this election. Lend your voice to the discussion and keep SeedSing on the right and true path, write for us.

The Day After: Super Tuesday Edition

Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, and Nebraska - You're next

Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, and Nebraska - You're next

It seems to be over, and yet the end seems so far away.

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump both scored numerous Super Tuesday victories, and seemed to take a giant leap closer to their respective party's Presidential nomination. Both candidates won where they were expected to win, and lost where they were expected to lose. The momentum gained in February has carried over into March for both front runners. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are on a course to face each other in November. Both candidates are already preparing to transition from the primaries and get ready for the national election. The end is here.  

Unfortunately the supporters of the losing candidates do not want to give up hope yet. In the case of the Democrats, the math is starting to cool the Bern down. Former Secretary of State Clinton dominated in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and won a very close Massachusetts primary.  Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders won large victories in Colorado, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Vermont. Clinton prevailed in the larger states with more delegates, while Sanders was victorious in the less rich delegate states. Couple Clinton's win with her enormous advantage in super delegates, there is almost no possible way the Green Mountain State Senator can win. Many Democrats may think that the very existence of the super delegates is extremely undemocratic, but it is unfortunately part of the process. As long as Hillary Clinton can keep winning states, no matter the margin of victory, she will get the support of the majority of people in the established Democratic Party. Senator Sanders long shot candidacy is becoming more absurd every day. His small state victories will not be enough to overtake Clinton. People who are feeling the Bern will need to find a new obsession. Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic Nominee for President of the United States.

The establishment of the Republican Party really wishes it had super delegates. New York business man Donald Trump won in Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Vermont, and Virginia. Trump took less than 50% of the vote in each state, but was still the candidate who finished number one. Texas Senator Ted Cruz won his home state along with Alaska and Oklahoma. Florida Senator, and establishment savior, Marco Rubio finally won his first election of the primary season with a victory in Minnesota. Even with all the victories Donald Trump has to his name, almost all of them have been close races with Mr. Trump taking well under 50% of the vote. On the day after Super Tuesday, Cruz and Rubio have enough combined delegates to beat Trump. With the addition of super delegates, the establishment of the Republican Party could really tip the scales for one of the two Senators, but alas the RNC wants to let the voters decide. A plurality seem to be deciding on Trump.

The only plan left for the RNC and elected Republicans was to rally around someone who could defeat Trump. Over the last week the core of the Republican Party, along with their national media lapdogs, started to rally around Marco Rubio. Things were so insane that Rubio was being referred to as centrist Republican. This is a man with almost no legislative accomplishments to his name and once deflected a question on the age of Earth by saying "I'm not a scientist, man". That lack of conviction and need to pander does not make for a great leader. This is the candidate the RNC is trying to elevate. The republican voters do not seem to be listening  The support and positive news coverage yielded the Florida Senator many third place finishes and one victory in the land of 10,000 lakes on Super Tuesday.

The next great hope is Cruz, and the establishment does not care for the obstructionist from the Lone Star state. While Senator Cruz did not do as poorly as Rubio on Super Tuesday, he was still almost 100 delegates behind Trump when the voting was completed. The new narrative from the RNC and media is that Ted Cruz is the only "real" republican that can defeat Trump. If Rubio, or Kasich, were to leave the race, it is believed that their support would all flood to Cruz. If that is truly the case, and it is doubtful this would happen, then the party would anoint Ted Cruz as the leader of Republicans nationwide. The Cruz candidacy would be just as, if not more, disastrous to the Republican party's national image. The Trump and Cruz supporters share a lot of the same ideas, even if Glenn Beck refuses to believe this. If Cruz is the backup plan, the Republican party is in a lot of trouble come November.

The best chance the Republicans have in defeating Trump, and saving some down ticket races, is to make sure that Donald Trump does not get the necessary number of delegates to secure the nomination. The only possible way to pull this trick off is to have Cruz and Rubio stay in the race. Trump wins a lot of primaries, but rarely gets over 40% of the vote. If Senator Cruz dropped out, many of his supporters would flock to Trump. If Rubio, or Kasich, dropped out, their supporters would probably sit out or split between the other two candidates. Keeping everyone in waters the field down, and makes it difficult for Trump to secure the nomination. Without the proper number of delegates, the heads of the Republican Party can call for a vote on new candidate at the convention in July. That is the only path available to ensure Donald Trump is not the Republican Party candidate for President of the United States.

The election of 2016 is already one for the history books. Hillary Clinton has finally broken through and figured out how to win over the needed people in the Democratic Party. Donald Trump is unbelievable still in front, but his lead is not as daunting as one would think. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz have almost no chance to be the Republican nominee, but together they can stop Trump. It is going to be epic.

RD Kulik

RD is the Head Editor for SeedSing and the host of the X Millennial Man podcast. The political parties may not care about your voice, but we do. Write for SeedSing.

The Day After: Nevada Edition - Part 2

See you in 2020 Nevada

See you in 2020 Nevada

We need to talk about Donald Trump.

Yesterday the Republicans had their caucus in Nevada, and Trump demolished the rest of the GOP field. Again. The New York City businessman, and a formerly registered Democratic Party voter, won his third primary contest out of four. The only loss, a very close second place finish, came in an Iowa caucus marred by dirty campaign tactics employed by  the campaign of Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Florida Senator Marco Rubio continued his streak of being the runner -up, and the aforementioned Cruz is starting to fall further behind. Ohio Governor John Kasich and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson continued their quest for irrelevance in the 2016 presidential primary. Donald Trump won, it is time to start calling him the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party. We need to accept this and move on.

The establishment of the Republican party is not quite ready to anoint Mr. Trump just yet. The narrative being fed to the lapdogs in the media is that Nevada, and the caucus system itself, usually has low voter turnout numbers. In reality the state actually had a record breaking night with the number of registered Republicans who voted in the caucus. Another excuse the DC republicans are floating out is that Trump does not have broad appeal. The reality is that more evangelicals voted for Trump than Cruz, more identified "very conservative" voters went for Trump than any other candidate. In fact Donald Trump won all but two counties in the Silver State (Ted Cruz won the two counties). With the Nevada caucus ending the crucial first four states of the primary calendar, Donald Trump is in a position that history says he will be the nominee. No amount of spin from frustrated Republicans can change the facts of the past.  

Somehow it still feels like the Donald Trump campaign is still a joke and will not be the GOP Presidential candidate. Is the narrative coming from the national media actually true? Will Trump falter on Super Tuesday? Many, including us here at SeedSing, have been dismissing Donald Trump since it was alleged that he paid actors to show up for his pep rally announcing his candidacy for the Republican nomination. Since that announcement, Mr. Trump has made one outrageous remark after another to make it look like his campaign was going to be finished quickly. Early in the campaign, Trump's top campaign adviser quit (or was fired, who knows).  His entire platform is filled with racism and hate.  He is incredibly ill informed on religion and American sports heroes. To the dismay of many Republicans, Trump called the last elected GOP president a failure. Each of these missteps has only seemed to strengthen Donald Trumps hold on the plurality of Republican primary voters. Even if he continues his public missteps before Super Tuesday, Trump will probably still come out on top. This does not feel real.

What Donald Trump's success is really showing us is that the Republican Party is not about governance, it is about anger. The entire party is throwing a temper tantrum over President Obama's Constitutionally mandated duties. The rise of Trump has embraced the idea of anger, and the Republican voters have fallen in line. The idea of "Constitutional Conservatives" is false. The idea that the Republicans want to govern is laughable. Donald Trump knows that the voters are not interested in moving America forward. He is the only candidate that has been truthful about what most Republicans want, and he has been awarded with one victory after another. The Republican party is invested in an antiquated and exclusionary philosophy. Donald Trump is the hero of this type of thinking.  Good governance is not the concern, fear of change is. That is why he is winning.

It is long past time to accept the legitimacy of Donald Trump as a candidate for President of the United States. Senators Rubio and Cruz may try and claim to be the true Republican, but the voters have emphatically said their flag bearing is the New York City businessman. The primary season has kicked into full gear, and no one has been able to slow down Donald Trump, including Mr. Trump himself. Once the voting ends next week on Super Tuesday, Trump could be close to securing the GOP nomination. He is already leading in the polls for most of the eleven states that will vote on March 1st. It is time to take Donald Trump seriously. We may be stuck with him until November 8th, or longer.

RD Kulik

RD is the Head Editor for SeedSing. This primary season he really wants you to vote yes and like SeedSing on Facebook.